Editorial: City needs to be more transparent about potential deal with Pacers

Let's agree that having an NBA franchise in Indianapolis is of significant value to the city. The team attracts thousands of fans to Downtown Indy on more than 40 nights a year, generating millions of dollars in economic activity and tax revenue. The team's presence also is a selling point for local companies trying to lure professionals to Indianapolis to work in the tech sector, life sciences and other growing industries. The city's overall quality of life is enhanced by serving as home not only to the Pacers but also the Indiana Fever.

Still, it's important for city leaders to promote transparency as they negotiate a long-term deal with the team. Taxpayers need the opportunity to understand why the city will continue to underwrite some of the team's expenses and how the financing and operation of Bankers Life Fieldhouse work.

Mayor Greg Ballard and other leaders ought to be encouraging a robust community discussion before -- not after -- they strike a multimillion-dollar, multi-year deal with the Pacers.

After all, it is taxpayer dollars on the table, and with the future of important community assets at stake.

Capital Improvement Board President Ann Lathrop said last week that a long-term agreement is probable by the end of the year. That's only four months away, which means the public may be presented once again with an all-but final deal that locks in an expensive, long-term obligation, and one that taxpayers will have had little chance to help shape.

What we know so far points to an annual expense for the city that continues in the neighborhood of $10 million or more. That figure may well jump to $21 million in 2014 -- $11 million to help offset the Pacers' operating costs and another $10 million in proposed but unspecified improvements to the Fieldhouse. Those subsidies are on top of the fact that the franchise leases the Fieldhouse for only $1 a year, and gets to keep all game-day and nongame revenue generated at Banker's Life.

Again, the Pacers and the Fever are great assets to this city and region. The business challenges of operating a professional sports franchise in a small market such as Indy also are undeniably difficult.

But the question isn't whether Indianapolis will continue to subsidize the Pacers. It's about how much say taxpayers will have in deciding just how much support to give.

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Editorial: City needs to be more transparent about potential deal with Pacers

Let's agree that having an NBA franchise in Indianapolis is of significant value to the city. The team attracts thousands of fans to Downtown Indy on more than 40 nights a year, generating millions